The Greatest Treasure
by Kaen Okami
Summary: Shapeshifter AU. The quest that Gon first assigns himself as a Hunter does not have at all the ending he expected it to.


Gon Freecss' earliest memory is being tucked into bed, safe and warm in the dead of winter, while Aunt Mito sits next to him and reads him stories to lull him to sleep.

Fairy tales, epic adventures, myths from around the world...They had spun the shimmering webs of his childhood dreams, Mito's soft voice following him even there. They had formed the foundations of the games he would play in the years to come, as he explored the forests and lakes of Whale Island on his own. According to Mito and Granny, it had also been the only thing that would calm him as a two-year-old, not understanding where his father had gone or why and crying uncontrollably because of it. That part of it is something that he would rather not think about, so he doesn't.

But that doesn't matter anymore, anyway. Not now, when he's looking at his newly won Hunter's License in his hand. Fresh from the printer, gleaming in the bright noon sunlight, it looks more beautiful than the world's greatest treasures.

Well. _Almost_ as beautiful, Gon decides is a fair compromise. Ever since the story had made its way back around to him, he had known exactly which prize he meant to claim for his grand debut as a Hunter. His feet are firmly enough on the ground to acknowledge all the times that he had only survived by the skin of his teeth in the Hunter Exam, but now that he's an official Hunter and the life-threatening danger has passed, he can feel the taste for adventure right back on his tongue again.

(What fear he has never seems to stick around long, anyway; it doesn't take much to wash it away.)

This is something he decides that he ought to do for himself, following his craving like this. It isn't going to lure in the man that never wanted to be found. But even so...

Gon smiles. Ging will notice, whether he acknowledges it or not. If he succeeds, he'll throw himself back into his father's line of sight at full force.

~0~

Kukuruu Mountain turns out to be a fairly accessible place despite its infamy.

There are plenty of people willing to point him in the right directions as he walks across the country, and a few more who will even let him hitch a bus ride right to the base of the mountain. Turns out that a mysterious and eerie local legend is fantastic for the nearest town's tourism, as the bus is packed full of people excited just to come _look_ at the mountain, snap a picture or three, and listen to the overly chipper tour guide/bus driver give her spiel about the attraction of the place.

"Look and admire, but steer clear of the gate! It's been placed there for your own protection: anyone who ever dared venture into the wood, or worse, into the labyrinth beneath, to seek the Zoldyck family's treasure has never returned! The monsters of Kukuruu Mountain devour them _all!"_

Gon isn't all that fussed by such an idea. Heroes slaying great beasts on their journeys is commonplace. He will be well prepared not to end up like the others.

When that's over and it's time to retreat back down the mountain, Gon is the only one who doesn't get back on the bus. He thanks the driver and waves to the other passengers until the bus disappears around the bend down the mountain road again. And then he turns, and gets a good, long, uninterrupted look at his destination.

Whale Island is full of lush jungle and uneven terrain, but he's never seen such a huge and imposing mountain. He wonders whether the ring of black and grey smoke surrounding the open peak are quite natural, for a presumably dormant volcano, then turns his attention to the deep forests and the colossal door that seems to be the only entrance. Gon walks up to it, places his fingertips on the cool stone.

"Open sesame?" he tries.

Nothing. Silence. Not even the comforting chirp of birdsong anywhere in the air.

Gon sighs - "Well, it was worth a shot" - and inspects further. There appears to be an inscription carved into the black stone, in small lettering which he squints to read.

 _We are without mercy, but never without tact. Steal over the walls and die for your cowardice. Only those with strength enough to push open the Testing Gate will be allowed to pass through our forest unharmed, and earn the chance to die as a warrior. It is as fair a warning as you will receive._

Fair enough, Gon decides, and looks all the way up at the the many-layered stone. There are always trials along the hero's journey, before his prize can be claimed. This is a game he doesn't mind playing, he thinks, as he braces himself and experimentally shoves his palms against the door. It doesn't budge one bit.

Now, Gon had never considered that his mission ought to have any specific time frame. So he isn't sure whether two weeks training alone on the mountain until he becomes strong enough to, with all his might, push open the smallest section of the door and step inside, is too long or too short. On the other side, it's exactly as he pictured the forests in the fairy tales: dark greens and deep shadows even in the afternoon sun, cut through only by a narrow and winding dirt path, with infinite places to hide in every direction. Infinite possibilities for another obstacle or opponent, on the many miles of pathway left for him to trek until he reaches the mountain.

And indeed, he can feel eyes on his head, between his shoulder blades, on the back of his neck. His own eyes aren't sharp enough to detect any movement or unnatural forms in the brush and trees around him, no matter how much he looks. He gives the air a tentative sniff every few minutes, and can't smell anything but pine sap and smoke.

It's just plain _not right._ Not only is the silence completely unnatural for an environment that should by all rights be teeming with life, but there is a presence here and it's one that grows stronger with every step he takes. In the very air around him, in the earth beneath his feet, and it puts an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach that he immediately dislikes and does his best to ignore. Surely there will be greater threats than a heavy door and a long walk on his way to the treasure, but given the choice, he would much prefer the obvious sort of danger.

There is no structure of any sort around the base of the mountain, nor is there any signpost this time, either. There is only a set of steel double doors, like the kind that open up into a basement. They don't creak at all when Gon opens them and steps inside...steps into darkness so pure and thick that he can almost _feel_ it, like a physical thing. The sound of the door slamming shut when he lets go is startlingly loud, and echoes -

 _Echoes. Hmm..._

Gon jumps up and pushes the door open again; it takes all his strength. When it slams, harder this time, he listens to the sound reverberating around him, takes in everything he can from the fleeting flash of sunlight that slips its way in. Fortunately, those few seconds are enough to tell him everything he needs to know: _tunnels._ What must be a network of tunnels is under the mountain, stretching out he can't even imagine how far. Just picturing doing that kind of math makes his head hurt.

He starts walking, much more carefully this time. Silence, still silence, even worse than the forest. The soles of his boots squeak softly against the rough stone floor, and he breathes in dust and hot underground air. He bumps against a few smooth walls and corners, until he realizes that this is a maze of some sort, and starts tentatively feeling his way along. The mysterious eyes on his back have disappeared, but are replaced by the almost palpable darkness, that presses in on his body and threatens to suffocate him. Gon swallows, and breathes in through his nose and out through his mouth, just like Aunt Mito taught him would help him to stay calm and controlled.

He suspects that this is another test: the Gate had been to test his strength, this labyrinth must be here to test his will and his senses. There really is no way to tell where he's going or if it's correct: he had packed a book of matches for campfires, and he strikes one to see if he can light his way, and it goes out immediately as if grabbed by a huge thick fist, and so do the second, third, and fourth ones. He almost laughs. No light, no sound; he gets it. Anyone else would probably lose their mind after a while, hopelessly lost, trying to find their way out and finding only darkness and pain and fear.

He knows it's foolish to assume that there won't be any other trap here, so he still takes care to watch his back, but he feels fairly certain that there won't be anything else. And he has something the other seekers of the treasure don't. There is a scent here too, almost imperceptible but still there, of steel and coldness and static. All he needs to do, it turns out, is follow it. He walks for a lot longer than he did on the forest path, he is sure, until he reaches a stone entryway lit by twin torches that almost hurt his eyes, after so long in the dark.

Gon smiles, and runs through it. The scent is stronger than ever, and he wonders what it could be that awaits him through that shadowy, fiery cave mouth -

He stops short almost the second he's inside, skidding on the stone, and stares up at the enormous, winding body of the creature whose body, even curled up as it is, takes up half of the high-ceilinged cavern. More torches line the wall, firelight glimmering off of ice-white scales and opaque violet eyes that stare directly into Gon's own.

Of course it's a dragon. Isn't it always?

Gon's mouth has gone dry all of a sudden, but he speaks anyway. "Are you the monster of Kukuruu Mountain? What's your name?"

The dragon's blank expression does not change, but its long snout opens to reveal a mouth full of fangs as long as Gon is tall. The stiff, lipless jaws don't move, but the pale blue tongue wags as a rasping voice comes up from its long throat. "Kill...Kill..."

"I guess I have to challenge you to get that treasure you're guarding, huh?"

"Challenge..." The dragon rises to its wide clawed feet, its many-horned head scraping against the ceiling. It tries to spread its huge leathery wings, but can only go halfway in its confinement. "Treasure...Kukuruu... _Kill!"_

It throws open its mouth and lunges for Gon, intending to swallow him in one bite. Gon leaps out of the way, and from there it isn't so much a fight as the strangest chase that Gon has ever been a part of.

As he jumps and dodges around the cavern to avoid everything the mad beast has to throw at him - fangs, claws, horns, and even a spiked tail that sparks with electricity - part of his mind screams at him to fight back. To throw the fire, grab his pole and fling the hook into its eyes, strike with his palms in search of a soft part. He doesn't like to kill any wild beast, but he's no fool: he still knows _how._

But that's just the thing: this dragon doesn't _feel_ like a wild beast, not one bit, even as it lets out ear-splitting screeches and bangs its tail against the wall. It doesn't feel like a _tamed_ beast, either, trained into a maiming, killing machine. There is intelligence there, enough to at the very least recognize and repeat sounds, but it's...numbed, somehow. Smothered and slow.

Something is wrong here. Any instinct that isn't already yowling at him to move _faster_ is assuring him of it.

A hero would shake it off and find the dragon's weakness, to claim victory quickly and decisively.

A Hunter would uncover the real problem, and rid the beast of it. And Gon is a Hunter now.

So while diving out of the way of several consecutive streams of blue fire from its mouth, Gon looks closer. He bounces off the walls, dust sprinkling over his hair and face, and tries to get a clear glimpse of every inch of this dragon.

" _Kill!"_ it thunders, again and again, but its eyes remain flat purple and pupil-less, nothing like the burning fury he would see in any other creature attacking so fiercely. They could get that vicious from a disease, or a threat to their cubs, or a thorn in their paw, or -

Gon almost freezes mid-flip, when he spies something short and thin and grey sticking out from the middle of the head full of spines.

"Hang on!"

He leaps up, pushes off the wall with both feet, and launches himself at the head as it thrusts toward him again for another snap of teeth. He smacks the nose as hard as he can, to close the mouth and boost himself up to the spines. He dives right for the offending item - a thick steel needle, he realizes as he grabs hold of it - and yanks as hard as he can. It's in there deep; he can see puckered skin and flakes of dried blood around the entry point, and the dragon roars even louder as he pulls at it.

" _I got you!"_

The needle gives, comes out with a fleshy tearing sound -

And Gon is all of a sudden falling. Nothing but empty air in the whole room.

He lands directly on his tailbone, and tiny noises of pain escape him as he rubs his now-aching spine and sits up to take stock of the situation.

There is no dragon anymore. In its place is another boy, his age, sitting as dazedly as he is and rubbing his forehead. Blood is running down his face from his hairline, staining his shock of white hair. The brightest blue eyes Gon has ever seen are blinking at him.

"Killua," the boy says before Gon can say anything. "My name's Killua. I was trying to answer you. Sorry about...all that. If it makes you feel better, it wasn't _my_ choice."

Gon blinks once, and then a smile lights up his face. "Don't worry about it! I'm Gon Freecss; nice to meet you!" Remembering his purpose here, he looks around again. "Uh...Do you know where I could find the treasure?"

Killua laughs, long and loud, and when he's done he gestures proudly to himself with a thumb. "Who says you haven't already?"

Confused, Gon is about to ask for clarification, when both of them turn at the sound of softly clicking footsteps near the entryway, and a voice that makes the hair on the back of Gon's neck rise up:

"Hey, Kil? Hope you don't mind I didn't bring any lunch, but I'm pretty sure it's already walked right up to you from - "

A young man with a pale face and a shark's black eyes casually steps into the cavern, but stops short when the sight that meets those eyes is not at all what he expected. His lips fall open slightly, and those eyes don't show any emotion but they sure widen considerably.

"Oh."

Killua narrows his eyes. He picks up the bloody needle in two fingers and shakes it. "Yeah, big bro. _Oh."_

"I...suppose this means you won't try to snap me up on sight anymore?"

Killua bares his teeth: smaller, but still sharp and gleaming...and growing larger by the second, as scale and muscle start to expand his body once more. "Now, who said _that?!"_

~0~

The crunching of bones, the low and heavy crash of the stone as a new crater was bulldozed through the mountainside, it's all as good as a distant memory to Gon barely five minutes later.

Now they're higher in the sky than he could have ever imagined being, there's wind in his hair and bright blue sky everywhere...and he's sitting right between the ears of an honest-to-gods _dragon._ He doesn't think he could be happier if he tried.

Killua lets out another triumphant roar to the sun, sharing the sentiment. "Hey, I don't think I said so before, but thanks for yanking that thing out of me! I would have done it myself, but my claws aren't so good for grabbing, and it kept me stuck with them!"

"No problem! I did the same thing on the paw of a cat trying to scratch me up once, it wasn't so hard."

Killua's eyes roll up to look quizzically at him. "My family was trying to turn me into a raging beast on _their_ leash, let hundreds of people in for me to fight and eat, and you say no problem. You're weird. But I like you." His wings beat steadily, carrying them over forest and mountain alike. "And hey...Did you say you were looking for a treasure? Sorry to say it was just their trick. There wasn't really any treasure there."

At that, Gon has to giggle. He rubs Killua affectionately between the head spines, and the dragon-boy rumbles happily at it. Heroes and monsters, curses and journeys...Gon thinks he had everything backwards in his head, when he had first started on his way. But it isn't so bad to be shown he was wrong, that his life will not be a fairy tale. Instead, it could be even better.

"No, you were right. I think there really was treasure there all along. And I think I found it."

Killua snorts. "Great. I got rescued by a complete sap."

"You got rescued by a _Hunter!"_

"Yeah, that too. Speaking of which, where'd you want to go?"

Gon smiles, and looks out to the horizon. "There's something I'm looking for, but it's going to be tough finding it. I'm not really sure where I should go next. But do you want to come with me, wherever it turns out to be?"

The dragon's huge fanged smile is nicer-looking than Gon had expected it to be. "Sounds like fun to me."

"Then let's go, Killua! Next stop - our adventure!"


End file.
